


Coal Walk

by magnusbicon



Series: Flufftober 2018 [24]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Based on The Office, Co-workers, Confessions, Flufftober, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Lack of Communication, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Magnus is Pam and Alec is Jim, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 05:39:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16402334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnusbicon/pseuds/magnusbicon
Summary: “We just never got the timing right, I suppose. I shot him down, he fled, and then the other night...we can’t seem to work it out. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be.”Maia snorts. “Are you sure about that?”





	Coal Walk

**Author's Note:**

> Day 24: Sand (Yeah I don't know why I ended up doing this for sand either hjdkfgsl)

**Before**

“I’m in love with you,” Alec breathes out, a weight lifting off of his chest as the words finally fall from his lips. His heart pounds as he watches Magnus’ eyes widen. His shoulders have stopped swaying and he takes a small step back, spinning his engagement ring around his finger over and over. 

“What?” he asks quietly.

“I’m really sorry if that’s weird for you to hear,” Alec continues, “but I needed to say it. I know it’s not good timing, but-”

“What are you doing?”

Alec pauses, taken aback by the question. Of all the reactions he had expected out of his best friend, this wasn’t one of them. He opens his mouth, but nothing comes out.

“What do you expect me to say to that?” Magnus asks, his voice tinged with something close to anger. 

Alec shakes his head, already trying to push back the tears that are building behind his eyes. 

“I just needed you to know, at least once,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper. His throat feels like it’s closing up as he sees the pity in Magnus’ eyes. 

“Alexander, I...I can’t.”

“Yeah,” Alec says, looking down at his shoes as his heart splits into a million pieces.

“You have no idea-” 

“Don’t.”

“-how much your friendship means to me.” 

“Come on, Magnus. I don’t wanna do that. I want to be  _more_  than that.” 

“I can’t.” Magnus’ eyebrows scrunch together as he looks at Alec, and Alec can’t bear to meet his gaze. “I’m really sorry that you misinterpreted things. It’s probably my fault.”

Alec shakes his head again, unable to stop the tears from falling down his cheeks as he forces a smile onto his face. 

“Not your fault,” he laughs out humorlessly, “I’m sorry I misinterpreted our friendship.” 

Without another word he steps past Magnus and heads back toward the office, ignoring the soft call of his name as he goes.

  

**After**

It’s been a month and Alec still can’t believe that after all the effort he put into running from this place, he ended up back here anyway. He left New York and switched office branches specifically to get away from here- and  _him_ \- so  _of course_  the two branches ended up merging. 

And now here he is, sitting on a tiny beach that his boss dragged them to and listening as he drones on and on about the importance of leadership. Most of his coworkers are with him, forming the circle that they situated themselves into. A few of them, however, are over at the coal walk that they all attempted to make earlier in the evening. 

Magnus is among them. 

Alec scrunches his eyes shut for a moment, forcing the name out of his head. The last thing he needs is to let himself spiral into all of the reasons why he left in the first place. He’s here now and he can’t afford to quit until he hears back from his last interviewer, so he has to deal with it. He takes a deep breath and digs his toes into the sand, offering his boss a fake attentive smile when he looks over at him. 

He eventually zones out, thinking about what he’ll do tomorrow once he’s off for the weekend, when the soft padding of feet running across the sand interrupts his thoughts. When he looks up, Magnus is standing in the middle of the circle, holding a hand up to stop their boss from speaking and wincing slightly. 

“I want to say something.”

Everyone is silent as he catches his breath, and a few people even lean in curiously, impatiently waiting for him to speak. 

“I’ve been trying to be more honest lately, and I just need to say a few things. First, I did the coal walk!” He points off to the side, gesturing to the flames, and Alec presses a finger over his mouth to hide his smile. 

The fondness that he spent so long harboring in his chest rises to the surface, and he can’t bring himself to push it down just yet. He knows that it’s a bad idea, allowing his feelings to keep spreading, but he can’t help it. Magnus is magical in a way that no one else can compete with and it’s absolutely enchanting sometimes. 

“Second...why didn’t any of you come to my reading? I invited all of you, and no one showed up. It’s like I only exist when you need me to send your faxes or make copies.” 

Somehow it gets even quieter, and everyone avoids Magnus’ gaze as he turns slowly, trying to make eye contact with them. Alec’s heart drops at the words. He hadn’t gone because he knew that he would get swept up again and that all of the progress he’d made in moving on would crumple immediately, but now he understands how selfish that was. Magnus has always been passionate about writing and that reading was a big deal for him. 

Just as he looks back up, Magnus turns to him. There is a special kind of sorrow in his eyes that Alec can’t look away from, and he freezes under the intensity of the gaze. 

“Alexander,” he says softly, taking a small step forward. “I called off my wedding because of you, and now we’re not even friends, and everything is off between us. And I know- I  _know_  that I screwed things up that night, but I miss you. I never should’ve been with Camille, and there were a lot of reasons to end it with her, but the truth is I didn’t care about any of those reasons until I met you.” 

Alec can barely breathe as every pair of eyes in the circle rests on him, and he stares up at Magnus helplessly, his throat tight with emotion. Magnus holds his gaze for another few seconds and then looks away, smiling sheepishly at the rest of their coworkers. 

“Well then. I am going to go walk in the water, because my feet are killing me. It was nice chatting with you all.”

He walks off with a cheerful wave and Alec stares after him, feeling more lost than he ever has in his life. 

 

**Now**

“Do you think Alec got the job?” Maia whispers, leaning into the conference room doorway where Magnus is restlessly watching the parking lot. 

His heart clenches painfully and he continues to stare out the window, willing Alec to drive in and tell him what’s going on. He’s been gone all day since he was called in for a second interview at a different company, and the suspense is killing Magnus. They’ve barely talked since his confession, and he’s fairly certain that Alec is running once again. 

He can’t blame him. 

“I don’t see why he wouldn’t,” Magnus says, keeping his voice level. “He’s qualified and charming.”

Maia seems to consider this for a moment, then steps into the room and closes the door behind her, moving to stand next to him. 

“How are you feeling?” she asks, and Magnus smiles at the lack of sympathy in her voice. Maia is the only one he can rely on to be straightforward with him. He doesn’t like being coddled. 

“Fine. If he never comes back, I’m sure it will be okay. Above everything else we are friends, and even if we’re going through a rough patch, we’ll always be friends.” He sighs, turning away from the window, and Maia rests a hand on his shoulder, encouraging him to continue. 

“We just never got the timing right, I suppose. I shot him down, he fled, and then the other night...we can’t seem to work it out. Maybe it wasn’t meant to be.” 

Maia snorts. “Are you sure about that?”

Magnus glares at her and opens his mouth, ready to retort, when the door flies open and Alec stumbles in. His eyes are wide, his lips pulled up in a small grin, and Magnus’ pulse races. 

“Magnus,” he breathes out, his smile growing for a moment before he looks over and catches sight of Maia. “Sorry, I just- are you free for dinner tonight?” 

“Yes,” Magnus says, dumbfounded. 

“All right,” Alec drawls, his fingers tapping softly against the door, “then it’s a date.” 

Magnus turns to Maia, his cheeks flushing as a beaming smile spreads across his face and everything falls into place.

“No,” he says, “I’m not sure about that at all.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I am absolute trash for The Office- have been for years, actually- and I've always wanted to write a long ass malec AU inspired by it but I do not have time so take this short messy thing instead.


End file.
